The Airplane - Jay Spenser [28]
On a fundamental level, then, the bird—and by extension the human body itself—provided aviation’s first successful paradigm for airplane construction. As we shall see, the insect world would later suggest a different and better way to build flying machines.
In August 1909, the world’s first air meet took place at Reims, France, in a region famous for sparkling white wines. Called La Grande Semaine d’Aviation de Champagne, this exuberant weeklong aviation exhibition was a roaring success, with flight displays, speed runs, and other assorted aerial thrills.
Some two dozen flying machines from ten different manufacturers took to the air before record crowds. More airplanes still were on static display. Photographs of all this activity filled newspapers around the world. It was nothing short of a rapturous unveiling of humankind’s newfound ability to travel at will through the sky.
Held in August 1909 at Reims, France, La Grande Semaine d’Aviation de Champagne was an exuberant celebration of newfound flight.
National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution
Although the Wright brothers did not attend, they were represented by others at the controls of four license-built Wright Model A Flyers. Wilbur in particular was there in spirit because it was his flight demonstrations in France the previous year that had shown others how to control an airplane in flight, making this air meet possible.
From the United States also was Glenn Curtiss, the Wrights’ brash young competitor, in his open-frame biplane the Reims Racer. Curtiss had designed and constructed it himself right down to its engine. With no reserve airplane available in case of a crack-up, he flew it sparingly until the final day, when he threw caution to the wind.
The meet’s crowning event was an all-out speed dash known as the Gordon Bennett Cup. Hubert Latham, unfazed by his recent dips in the English Channel, attempted to compete in an Antoinette but failed to make the cut. With his elimination, France’s hopes rested squarely on Louis Blériot, who ultimately lost by a matter of seconds. The trophy went to Curtiss for his world record of 47 mph (75 km/h).
The French would win the following year’s meet, consolidating their dominance of flight in its initial decade. This flying at Reims helped bring to a close Europe’s fabled belle époque, a halcyon era of antiquarian graces, flowering arts, and galloping discovery. Four years later, the guns of August would shatter what was left of that fondly remembered time.
Glenn Curtiss wins the Gordon Bennett Cup at Reims with a blistering speed of 47 mph (75 km/h).
National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution
World War I broke out in August 1914. A conflict of stalemate and attrition, it would claim ten million lives before drawing exhaustedly to a close more than four years later. By then, Europe’s borders had been redrawn and four great empires—German, Austro-Hungarian, Russian, and Ottoman—had all ceased to exist.
The Great War spurred development by calling on aviation to play meaningful roles. Airplanes barely flew in 1914, but that didn’t stop intrepid aviators from strapping on leather helmets and navigating over hill and dale to gather military intelligence. Tracking troop movements and photographing enemy installations were aviation’s primary wartime roles.
By 1915, the warring factions were designing airplanes for specialized uses. In addition to reconnaissance, the conflict bred fighters, bombers, maritime patrol planes, and ground-attack machines. Wartime urgency also gave rise to large multiengine airplanes. Of course, the most famous flying machines of World War I had just one engine and one seat. These were the fighters or pursuit planes (avions de chasse, as the French called them) that earned everlasting fame in swirling aerial dogfights.
World War I brought the glamour—and danger—of early military flying into the popular culture, as this still from the 1928 movie Lilac Timesuggests.
Author’s collection
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